Various systems for indexing documents utilizing dividers and labels are available. In a typical system, documents are separated by divider sheets to aid with identification of the documents. The dividers often include tabs having indicia thereon for helping a user to locate and organize documents.
While such systems may have been satisfactory for helping to index groups of documents, the task of applying identifying indicia or identifying labels to the divider tabs is time consuming, clumsy and subject to error. In many systems, tab attachable labels have been employed to help overcome such difficulties. Typically, during application the individual labels are separated from one another and then attached individually to corresponding ones of the divider tabs. In the course of individually applying the labels, they are often not applied evenly, or properly aligned with the divider sheet tabs. Even though the use of this type of attachable labels may have permitted the divider tabs to have identifying indicia, such labels have not been convenient to use.
Previous patents have taught various remedies for overcoming these shortcomings when applying tabs to index dividers. One previous example includes the use of precut labels attached to carrier strips that are in turn secured to a backing sheet. The precut labels are spaced apart on the carrier strips to align substantially on the tabs on the divider sheets. The user can separate a carrier strip and precut labels affixed thereto from the backing sheet, place and align the carrier strip across the divider sheet such that the precut labels are placed on the tabs of the divider sheets. The carrier sheet is then pulled upwardly and away from the divider sheet such that the precut labels separate from the carrier strip and remain on the divider's tabs. This system, while an improvement in certain respects over the prior art, has the disadvantage that the strips are typically flimsy and difficult to properly align. Additionally, the carrier strip can be sticky and thus may stick to unwanted surfaces.
Another remedy for the shortcomings faced when applying tabs to index dividers includes the use of a facestock adhered with releasable adhesive to a liner sheet. Die cut lines are made through the facestock to define labels to be aligned with either one or more sets of dividers or sets of file folders. Different pattern die cut lines are made through the liner sheet so that a strip can be removed directly from behind the labels, exposing the adhesive side of the labels. The labels are temporarily held onto the remainder of the facestock by small ties. After alignment and adhesion to the dividers, the facestock is then pulled upwardly and away from the divider sheet. This movement breaks the ties, leaving just the labels on the substrate. This system while a further improvement requires the use of ties to maintain the labels during alignment of the labels with the dividers. The ties may prove to be a disadvantage in that they may leave rough edges about the perimeter of the label where the ties have been broken during removal of the label sheet.
Another shortcoming of previous patents is that after removal of the strip and application of the labels onto the substrate, the sheet is no longer printable. In one instance the sheet is an irregular size after the strip is removed. Irregular sheets may have difficulty passing through printers or copiers. In another instance, after the labels have been applied to the substrate, the sheet has holes where the labels were. The holes may impart unwanted flexibility in the sheet or may provide catch points causing difficulty in passing through a printer or copier. Further removal of the labels and liner exposes adhesive on the remainder of the sheet, which may cause the sheet to adhere to the feed mechanism in a printer or copier. Thus, since printing after label removal may be problematic, all the labels should be printed in a single printing step. Any unprinted labels could not be printed in a second pass through the printer or copier and would have to be used unprinted or wasted.
Therefore it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved index divider label applicator construction, method of application, and an alignment kit and method of using the same to facilitate the application of tab labels in a fast, efficient, and accurately aligned manner. Such a new and improved label and method should enable a user to apply all of the divider tab labels substantially simultaneously. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.